Classic Racer — September — October 2017

CLASSICRACERPEOPLE

In an article by Michael Kirk on who would

win the SeniorTT inTheMotorCycle,the

followingwassaidabout Bob: “In the opinion

of manyshrewd judges, the best riderinthe

Senior race will be BobMcIntyre –bestin

terms of skill, courage, guts,determination

and common sense.”

Thearticle continued to mentionBob’s

chancesdue to Joe: “My thirdand last,

little-known item is that ashadowy individual,

one JoePotts may, though unseen, playa

very majorpart in theSenior.Heisbusily

preparing a90mm-boreengine forMcIntyre’s

streamlinedNorton.If thenew engine is not

ripe, McIntyre willride acurrent Manx model

(actuallythe factorymachine raced by Surtees

last year),whichwill doubtlesshave been

breathed on at Bellshill. With its latestfrontal

fairing,eventhe standardmodelmaybefaster

than the 1956 (Works) samplessupplied to

Hartle,Brett andTrow,and probably better

than anyinthe Matchless stable as well.”

Sadly,Joe couldnot get his 90mmbore

engine ready in timefor Bob, so he would

have to makedowith theex-Surteesengine.

In the Junior and Seniorraces thingsalso

went badly.Inthe SeniorTT Bobwas flying

and by theend of the firstlap he wasin

second position behind Surteesonthe

MV by anarrowmargin. In Motor Cycling

magazineat the end of Bob’sfirstlap they

said,“Scotlandforever! BobMcIntyre, on

thepannier-tanked “Potts” Norton, has

beaten Lomas’s (onWorksGuzzi) standing

start lap by acouple of seconds!”Sadly,at

theend of thesecondlap, Bobwas forced to

retirewith asheared pannier tank bolt.

Furtherdisappointmentfollowedinthe

JuniorTT,asan oilleak from the cambox

resulted in anothersecond lap retirement.

Following theTT,Bob entered theThruxton

Endurancerace on aBSA GoldStar with

Alastair King.With onlytwo lapscompleted,

RobJerrard crashed his BSA, whichBob

then raninto. He sustained ahand injury

that puthim outhim outofactionfor afew

weeks. WhileBob wasout, Charlie Bruce

kept up the Pottsteam’sgoodform by

winning the250cc classatbothErrol and the

followingweek at Charterhall.

TheSouthern100 marked Bob’sreturnto

racing.Inthe 350cc class he lead the race

fffrom start tofififiniiishhh.IIInthhhe5 000000 cc clllassBBBobbb

started quickly and waspullingwell ahead

of the rest of the field.Hethen startedto

feel the pain fromhis injuryatThruxton and

becameunable to pull the frontbrake lever.

Bobstartedtodrop backand eventually

finishedfourth.

TheScottishspeed championships were

runatBeveridgePark by theKirkcaldyand

Districtclub. Even withhis hand injured

and unabletooperate the frontbrake

properly,Bob wasabletoput up somegreat

performancesatthe Park. In the 250cc

class he wononthe Potts250 fromCharlie

Bruce’sVelocette. In boththe 350cc and

500cc classes Boband the Pottsmachines

wonfromAlastairKing.

At the July Aintree meeting,Bob continued

his winning form on the350 and 500Potts

machines, but wasdenied aclean sweep as

theprimary chainfelloff the Potts250 while

he wasleading.AtOultonPark in August a

top classfieldgatheredincluding GeoffDuke

(Gilera), Bill Lomas and Dickie Dale (Moto

Guzzis).In the250cc class, Bobwon from

BobBrown’s NSU.Inthe 350cc class Bob

took an earlyleadand it wasnot until the third

lapthat Lomas took thisfromhim. Boband

Lomas rode in closecompanyfor many laps

as theypulledaway fromthe rest of thefield,

includingTerryShepherdand Dickie Dale.At

theend of the race Bobfinishedsecond on his

PottsManx behindLomas.Inthe 1000cc class

he retiredashelost hisleftfootrest, whichleft

GeoffDuketowin. Bobalso finishedthird in

theLes GrahamTrophyhandicap race on the

Potts250.Thefollowingdayracing continued

at Snetterton and MotorCycling magazine

describedthe meeting as “something in the

way of abenefitfor BobMcIntyre and his

Potts-tunedNortons”ashewon the250cc,

350cc and 500cc classes.

Below: Adeal beingdone?Geoff

Dukeand Bob in discussion.

Bob and Joe’sbig

planfor1956 –the

Potts250.

Thenextmeeting wasthe British

ChampionshipsatThruxton, the biggest

shortcircuitmeetingofthe year.Thiswould

be the first time that Boband Joewould be

using‘SuperShell’100octane fuel intheir

bikes.They had signed abig sponsorship

deal to be the faces of the newfuel and

Shellproduced several full-page adverts to

showthis.

Forthe BritishChampionshipsthe main

oppositionwouldcome from Bill Lomas on

theWorks Guzzi.In the ACUTrophy 250cc

race Boband the streamlined Potts250

dominated therace and went on to win

and set the fastest lap. Forthe 350ccDaily

ExpressTrophyevent therewas acloserace

052 PottsMcIntyrePart two_SEP.indd 56 31/07/201709:35:15